


Sanity is Overrated

by IceGoliath



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family, Friendship, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-30 20:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6438418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceGoliath/pseuds/IceGoliath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How friends meet, how families drive you nuts and how life is changed by the size of your Manga collection</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's the way I'm wired baby

It’s the way I’m wired baby

It was a split second decision that would have serious repercussions.  
Roxas had stolen his favourite green and black checked shirt off Zexion’s floor. It was the one his best friend refused to lend him, preferring to hold it to ransom to get him to be a guinea pig for strange experiments that usually went wrong.  
Demyx, his other best friend and Zexion’s much more cheerful other half thought it was funny. But, Roxas knew for a fact that he was partial to the pair of skinny leg jeans with ghosted flames up the side that hung in Zexion’s closet and that he would never let his boyfriend know this for fear of being used in the same way.  
It was the kind of shirt that could make him feel pretty confident, even on a bad everything day. Totally work the risk.  
Right now though it looked like it had gone through a hedge backwards. His brothers’ fault for making him late, forcing him to have to take the only means of transport available. It was stupid to try to rollerblade when stopping techniques were such a distant memory. The bruise forming on his left temple, painful if temporary evidence of his stupidity.  
Back to the shirt, that was covered in dirt and leaves. It was teamed with low slung black jeans and a black t-shirt finished off with beaten up green converse.  
The aforementioned hated rollerblades tied to the side of his rucksack, bounced off each other when he moved.  
He shuffled through the door into the garage reception area. There was no-one behind the desk which was nothing but a piece of formica counter top on two filing cabinets. Clipboards and pens were scattered on the surface, piles of paper in neat stacks.  
Roxas waited, drumming out a rhythm on the counter top that he’d heard on the radio that morning. No-one turned up after 10 minutes, so he wandered around to find Yuffie who had recommended the Lionheart garage to him in the first place for his car’s yearly overhaul. He’d known Yuffie since his first year at high school when she had saved him from a rampant senior on his first day. They’d had a thing for a few months, which ended amicably.  
He waited in the corner, trying not to get in the way of the mechanics or anyone at all. Burning brake rubber and oil made his throat burn every time he took a breath. Mournful cries of a miss-fuelled motorbike echoed around the room.  
He couldn’t find her, but found someone else and was instantly glad he’d stolen that shirt.  
The guy was shoulder deep in a car engine. A grey oil splattered vest and grease stained blue jeans were combined with a red lumberjack shirt that hung limply on his hips.  
He straightened up as he took his head out from under the bonnet. The thing Roxas noticed more that his height was his bright red hair. His heart started beating to the rhythm of his brother’s feet after eating too many Skittles  
“Work dammit”  
The redhead snarled at the inanimate object and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead  
He wasn’t traditionally handsome. That word implied in his mind the fairytale hero, stocky with a chizzed jaw and hair that looked like it had had a comb run through it more than once a month.  
He wasn’t pretty either. The word conjured up girly and young and he certainly wasn’t any of those.  
Striking. That was the right word. He was the kind of guy that if you passed him in the street would make you look twice and by his body language he knew it.  
Roxas took a deep breath and slowly breathed it out.  
“Leon” the mechanic bellowed “Chuck me that wrench”  
He couldn’t see this Leon from his place in the shadows. He just felt sorry for the person getting the verbal.  
“Not that one. The big one.” The redhead snapped  
“Snarky” a female voice tutted from behind him “you broke that one trying to fix the boiler the other day”  
Finally, someone he recognised.  
“What are you doing back Yuff?”  
“A race this afternoon. Have to fix my bike”  
“Do you want a hand?”  
“Not one of yours” She snapped  
Roxas heard the sound of metal screeching across the concrete, enough to make the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.  
“Just picking up my junk”  
Yuffie’s voice was muffled and coupled with heavy breathing. The door opened behind him and the cold air blew at the back of his legs.  
“Oh, hey Rox.”  
Someone has finally noticed the 17 year old, who was wishing that his heart would stop beating so fast.  
The door slammed behind him.  
The redhead turned swiftly and grinned. He had an oil streak across his forehead and the most hypnotic green eyes. Great, now he sounded like a love struck 12 year old girl.  
“This yours?” He said indicating to the mass of rust that he’d been working on.  
Roxas put on the most indignant face he could. The mechanic grinned even wider.  
“It’s a piece of shit. Even an Axel special can’t fix it”  
“A thump from a wrench” shouted the voice from the back room  
“Shut it Leon” The redhead shouted back, before looking back at the blonde sheepishly, his hands clasped around the back of his head.  
Even his name went with the job. Probably a nickname, not that Roxas really cared what his real name was.  
A nice, if irritating distraction.  
They stood in silence for a few seconds.  
“Mines over there” Roxas said.  
He pointed to the red mini in the corner, his favourite colour.  
“Rox right?”  
He must have been doing the thinking face that Sora always laughed at, Axel was grinning again and that was really beginning to annoy him.  
“It’s Roxas” He snapped. The grin faded slightly, he hadn’t meant to be that aggressive “Only my friends call me that” he said as an afterthought as the redhead looked slightly hurt.  
“I could be your friend” He leered, instantly back on form.  
Roxas grimaced, and decided at that the guy was a weirdo. Sleaze didn’t work on him. Bad boy, yes. Perv, no.  
“This is mine” He said, hoping to distract the mechanic by changing the subject.  
Roxas walked slowly around his pride and joy, noticing that the rust spot on the driver’s side rear bumper had gone  
“Yuff sorted that for you.” Axel said, noticing his surprise. “Good with bodywork if you know that I mean.”  
The redhead waggled his eyebrows at him, his stomach lurched in disgust. Roxas ignored him the best he could, walked slowly around the car and opened the rear door, taking the opportunity to throw his bag and blades onto the back seat. They landed in a heap in the footwell behind the driver’s seat.  
The door no longer creaked and protested when it closed, it even smelt nice. He got into the drivers seat and put his seatbelt on.  
He was sure that Sora wouldn’t mind him driving him to work anymore. Not that his brother had any right to complain, he’d tried to pass his test no less than seven times. Personally, he thought that Sora failed on purpose so he could spend more time with Riku his driving instructor. He venomously denied this of course. Unfortunately, it was his twinly obligation to transport him everywhere. Sor owed him big time.  
Roxas passed a couple of hundred bucks to the smirking man through the open window, turned the key in the ignition and pulled off. The sun reflected off the dashboard and practically blinded him in one eye. He opened the sun visor and a piece of paper floated onto his lap.  
After a couple of miles, he pulled over.  
The paper was smooth and flimsy. Nothing special. He turned it over and rolled his eyes at the black marker pen scrawl.  
Axel 207-58-3942.  
“Asshole” He said to the paper, even though the paper itself had done nothing wrong.  
He let the paper float down and settle in the passenger foot well, but the note made him smile; no-one had ever done that for him before.


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas sat in the car at the kerbside watching Sora hurtle through the door of the sports shop with his bag falling off one shoulder and his coat half on the other. He bumped into two old ladies and nearly knocked over the shop sign as he barged past.  
He knew that it wasn’t exactly what Sora wanted to do for the summer before graduation year, but he got a decent discount on trainers and they would never run out of coat hangers. Roxas got the raw deal though; his method of employment - a call centre – was a little short on the perks.  
He could see his twin frantically look for the car and mouth a few curses before reaching into his bag and pulling out his mobile phone.  
A muffled ringtone broke the silence. Roxas reached into the glove box and pulled out his phone. He flipped it open.  
“Roxas”  
“Where the hell are you? I’m gonna be late.”  
Roxas rolled his eyes and sighed  
“Red mini by the kerb.” He said slowly, annunciating every syllable.  
He flipped the phone closed and slipped it into his pocket. At least two minutes later the door opened and a bedraggled looking Sora – not that he was anything else, ever- clambered into the passenger seat. Roxas silently pulled away from the kerb and started to drive down the road. It only took a few seconds for Sora to notice a slight smile on the face of his designated driver.  
“Did I get in the right car? Why are you so happy?”  
Sora waited for a smart remark or a snort. Nothing.  
He stuck his hand in his rucksack and rustled whatever junk he had in there, before resting it gently in the foot well.  
“No reason”  
“What’s this then?  
Sora held up a piece of white paper that he’s retrieved from it’s landing site and unfolded it slowly.  
“Shit” Roxas mouthed to himself then regretted it. Sora would never let it go.   
His brother grinned, one of those evil ones that made you want to choke the life out of him with your bare hands.   
“Axel huh?”  
Roxas ignored him and stared at the road.  
“He pretty?”  
“I’m concentrating Sora. Ask me about it when we get home.”   
“Roxas likes Axel”  
Roxas could feel himself go pink and immediately cringed.   
It was more of a reaction to the teasing than actually liking the guy.  
“Aww, Roxy’s in luurve.” Sora crooned, in his awful singsong voice.  
It was like nails down a chalk board, he was completely tone deaf. No response.  
Roxas swerved the car as the sharp slap hit his thigh and had to wrestle it under control before he hit a parked 4 x 4 and murdered a few garden gnomes. Thank God for power steering.  
He glared at Sora, not trusting himself to say anything nice.  
Sora rustled in his bag, pulled out his IPOD, stuck the buds in his ears and bobbed his head to the beat. Roxas has no idea what he was listening to; he just seethed and tried to ignore the bass that was way too loud.  
“You seeing Riku tonight?” He bellowed over the noise.  
Sora removed an ear bud from the nearest ear and gave his brother a look which calmly stated, ‘this had better be good’.  
“Yes. I have a driving lesson” He said, stressing the sentence and finishing it with a well practiced pout that his twin had learnt to ignore.  
“You know he’s too old for you.”  
“He’s 25”  
“What do you know about him anyway?”  
You sound like Kairi. He’s funny, goes to the U and does lessons for extra money.” His voice was dreamy.  
Roxas took advantage of the glazed over look and snatched back the piece of paper in his brothers hand.  
The pout was back and again it was ignored.  
“It’s my job, being older than you.”  
“By two minutes.”  
“I could leave you right here.”  
“I don’t have a clue where we are!” Sora spluttered then closed his mouth.  
He put his ear buds back in and bobbed his head until Roxas pulled into the car park of the apartment block. they called home. The engine shuddered and died. He prodded Sora to get out and watched as he grabbed his bag and leapt out of the car.  
He sighed, opened the rear door, pulled his rucksack and blades out of the foot well and threw them on his back, slamming the door before locking it with a high pitched tone from the central locking.   
He kicked a can as he followed Sora into the building. From the entrance he could see that the apartment door was open.   
Sora was already on the phone, wandering around the kitchenette and sipping from a mug of coffee. Roxas slammed the door as loudly as he could. Making a mental note to apologise to Mrs Kaposi next door the next time he saw her.  
“It’s just Roxy being a dick.”   
Roxas knew that Sora had raised his voice for his benefit. He wandered over the counter surface that his brother had at that moment decided to turn into an impromptu couch.  
“Sor, move your fat ass”   
He shoved the brunette off the counter top and watched him land on the floor with a thump, dropping the phone.  
Roxas grabbed the phone and grinned.  
“What’s up Kai?”  
They had known Kairi since pre-school when she stole one of Sora’s pencils and made him cry. It had been the twins, Kairi and Zexion for years until the redhead moved away 6 months ago. Sora still called her at 6.30 every Friday.  
“Ask him about Axel” Sora screamed in his ear.  
Roxas responded with a glare and silently handed over the phone.  
“Kai” The brunette said happily.  
“You’re walking to work next week” Roxas called as he left the room.  
He turned into the bedroom he shared with Sora. They were way too old to share a twin room, but as it was their brother Cloud’s apartment, it was a non arguable point. He looked at the floor in dismay. Sora’s side as always looked like there had been an explosion in a charity shop. Roxas’s half on the other hand was average. He liked to be able to see the carpet.  
He sat on his made bed using the headboard as a back rest, placed his phone on the side table and closed his eyes.  
“Rox, can you do me a favour?”  
He opened his eyes, to see Sora standing in the doorway.  
“I have a lesson; can you find my swim kit for tomorrow?”  
He indicated to the pile of stuff in the middle of his side of the room.  
“I’ll owe you big time” he wheedled  
”You still owe me for the last 10”  
“One more won’t hurt”  
Sora turned and left, not waiting for an answer. Roxas uttered a string of various curses that one of Cloud’s friends had taught him, rolled his eyes then closed them again.  
He wasn’t sure how much time has passed when his phone vibrated on the bedside table. He felt blindly for it in the dark, almost knocking off the bedside lamp.  
He opened the phone taking note of the name Zexion that flashed merrily away on the little screen.  
“You’re calling late.” He said quietly  
The line was silent, but he knew that his best friend was on the other end.  
They had known each other since they were 4. They would sit in silence for hours; Zexion had never really grown out of it.  
“You stole my shirt.” The tone was accusing  
“Took you long enough to notice”  
The line went silent  
“Anyway, your shirt was lucky.” Roxas continued  
“Was that in your horoscope this morning?” The tone was full of gentle mocking.  
It was a new voice. Demyx. The only person who could get away with saying the next word.  
“Zexy had to go, he said something about version 26 and handed me the phone.”  
“Great”  
Roxas knew exactly what Zexion was up to and didn’t like it one little bit.  
“So, what’s up?”  
“A weirdo left his number in my car. I need some advice.”  
Demyx went silent, and then started humming. It was something he would do most conversations.  
The song sounded suspiciously like the one he’d had stuck in his head all day.  
“Dem?”  
“Well……The only people you let near your baby are Sora, us of course and the garage.” Pause for effect. “You went to a new garage today, so it must be one of them.”  
Bull’s-eye, Roxas was quite stunned that Demyx had managed to conclude that without Zexion's help. It wasn’t that he was stupid; he just had a short attention span.  
“So, what should I do?  
“Flutter your eyelashes, wiggle your sexy ass and he’ll be putty”  
“What if I don’t want to……?”  
Roxas could practically hear the ensuing glare from Zexion before the sentence had even finished. He heard a squeak then the line muffled so he could only just hear the ‘you’re sexier babe’ then a groan of what he hoped was not what he thought it was.   
Demyx always forgot to press the mute button; he had heard many disturbing conversations that way.  
“Well, good luck with that.”  
Demyx’s voice came back clear, and then he abruptly hung up.   
So much for encouragement and moral support, especially as he wasn’t sure if he actually liked the guy. He closed is eyes and stared at the Orion’s Belt in glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.  
In the distance, he heard the front door slam. It sounded like Sora was home from his lesson and full of the joys of Riku.   
Not that he couldn’t count on his twin for support, but in his ever optimistic way, he couldn’t take anything seriously.  
It was one of the reasons why their parents had kicked him out. To force him to take some responsibility for his life. Of course, in a moment of twinly solidarity Roxas followed and they ended up on Cloud’s doorstep begging him to let them stay.  
“You done it yet?”  
Roxas looked over to find Sora standing in the doorway, each hand resting on the sides of the doorframe.  
“Done what?”  
“Called him”   
The words held a thinly veiled duh.   
“I was consulting with my best friends”  
Sora frowned then smiled brightly  
“Cloud’s mixing cocktails in the kitchen.”  
God bless Sora’s low attention span.  
“Come and laugh, Reno and Zack already are.”  
“Great, the hedgehog squad.” He muttered. “Later.” He finally responded, loud enough for Sora to hear.  
“Your loss.”  
He stared at him for at least 20 seconds before grinning and bouncing away.  
Sor, you’re such a freak.” Roxas shouted after him. An insult he didn’t hear or chose to ignore.   
Sometimes it felt like the two minutes between them was 10 years.  
As much as Roxas would love to laugh at his brother, he was not in the mood to be in a room with people Cloud worked with and who unfortunately resembled Sonic the Hedgehog.   
Deciding it was now or never to call the weirdo, he quickly punched in the numbers from the piece of paper before he changed his mind.  
For once he was going to be like Sora and take a chance.  
The phone rang for a few seconds. Then picked up.  
“Hello? Hello?”  
“Hello? Can you hear me?”   
“Ha ha, gotcha. Sorry, I’m not around right now. Leave a message and a number. Got it memorised?”  
The phone beeped, indicating for a message to be left.  
“Hi, it’s Roxas”  
It occurred to him that the redhead might not know who he was.  
“The guy with the mini”   
How masculine  
“You left your number in my car.”  
Obvious  
“Cheap trick”  
Show you’re not going to take any shit. Good move  
“You wanted me to call, so I am.”  
Ditto  
“My number should be on your phone. You should have it memorised”  
Then he hung up. No call me back, no talk to you soon and using his own words against him. Genius.  
Roxas got into bed and took a book from his night stand. He spent the rest of the evening after the particularly successful voicemail message listening to Cloud and his friends, occasionally sitting up in shock when the thought he heard the blonde laugh, before deciding it wasn’t possible.

 

Interlude - Yuffie

The world sucked. First race of the season and she was home after the third lap.   
The rear wheel of her brand new and hideously expensive dirt bike had slid out on mud and swerved to hit a concrete barrier. The poor thing was almost totalled and had to be towed to the garage, she on the other hand had to get a cab home that cost 50 bucks.  
Taking her key out of her jacket pocket, she opened the door to her apartment, the best two storey she could afford after she had spent most of her money on the bike that was now in pieces.  
She felt her stomach drop and the bile rise in her throat. Something wasn’t right.  
Shuffling forwards apprehensively, something crunched beneath her feet. She lifted her boot and a sticky substance with the consistency of string cheese came with it. Her stomach contracted in revulsion and shuddered as she noticed something black and beetle like scuttle through the kitchen. She walked backwards out of the apartment from hell and slammed the door.   
She fished in her pocket for her mobile and pressed speed dial 4, the only person who would deal with her problem rationally without shrieking like a girl.  
“Leon, I have a beetle issue. Can I stay with you?”


	3. Chapter 3

A muffled ringtone reverberated on the bedside table, disrupting a dream about chocolate pudding and the lead singer of his favourite rock band.  
Rolling over, he grabbed his phone, flipped it open, not bothering to look at the screen and put it to his ear.  
“Roxas?”  
It was a voice Roxas’ early morning brain didn’t recognise.  
It was a well known fact that he was unable to function in the mornings unless he had ingested several cups of coffee or crude oil, as Sora nicely put it.   
“What”   
“Roxas?”  
The problem solving process was slow. His mind ran through it’s internal rolodex, putting all the relevant pieces of together, like the ‘Guess Who’ game Kairi forced them to play every Christmas.  
After a few of seconds, all the people cards were down.  
“Axel?”  
“Who did you think it was?”  
The voice sounded pissed. Roxas reasoned with his mind that it was about being forgotten. Being someone with hair that red, he probably wasn’t. Usually.  
“What time is it?”  
“8.30”  
“Oh shit”  
Roxas rolled out of bed, the handset still pressed against his head. He hit the floor with a thump. Sora’s snoring changed tone.  
“It’s Saturday Roxas”  
This guy sure liked saying his name and it sounded good.  
The other end of the phone was silent where he obviously expected a response. Damn his odd conversations with Zexion.  
“You don’t do mornings do you?”  
Roxas was on the verge of asking him to call at a more appropriate time and slamming the phone shut. What kind of weirdo would leave their number in a guy’s car anyway?  
Then he laughed. Cue the drums in his chest that beat the day before. Somewhere in the middle of Roxas’ thought process, the laughing stopped.  
“What are you doing today?”  
That was a question he should answer, or it would be considered rude.  
"Driving my brother to a swim meet. But, I’m back at 11.30. Why?”  
“I have a day off and I thought we could go somewhere date like”  
Roxas swallowed involuntarily. Did he really want to do this? He wasn’t like Sora, even though he wished he could forget consequences for one day.  
“If it makes you feel any better, you could bring your brother and I could bring a friend. Seeing as I don’t know you, you could be a serial killer or something”  
Axel laughed at is own joke. The shivers were back, it was like he had read Roxas’ mind.  
“Ok, why not” He said, suddenly feeling a bit more comfortable around this virtual stranger who was actually being quite pleasant.  
“I’ll pick you up at 12.00.”  
“Sure” He answered “How do you know where I live?” He said as an afterthought, but Axel had hung up.  
Cue the feeling that he was about to throw up.  
He looked over at Sora who had slept through the noise. His twin owed him big-time and he was about to pay up.   
He shuffled back into bed, letting the warm covers envelop him and tentatively stuck his arm out and patted the floor until he found a suitable projectile. He threw the heavy leather boot, it bounced off Sora’s headboard and flew across the room, landing quietly on a pile of clothes. The resulting vibration shook Sora and the snoring stopped. 

 

Interlude - Sora

Sora sat on a stool at the breakfast bar, sipped his cup of coffee and stared suspiciously at his twin who sat opposite him and was smiling a bit too much for it to be genuine happiness.  
“Do you remember that you owe me big time?” The voice was wheedled  
“Yes” His voice full of suspicion  
“I’m seeing Axel today, and you’re coming too”   
Straight to the point  
“The hell I am!”  
“I could be a serial killer or something. He’s bringing a friend.”  
“Like a double date? I only want Riku.” The response was little more than a whine.  
Roxas liked who he liked and that was it. Sora on the other hand was strictly guys and as much as the sweet blonde down the road tried to convince him otherwise, he only has eyes for Riku.  
“This will cancel out all you owe me. It’s a good deal; I’d take it if I were you.”  
“I thought you did all of those things out of brotherly love.”  
He shuffle backwards, almost falling off the stool when this twin reached over the bar with outstretched hands.  
“Deal”


	4. Contemplation in Pencil

The doorbell went at exactly 12.00. Axel’s voice clear over the apartment block intercom. How he got the address was probably a blatant disregard of the Data Protection Act. Reading private details from his vehicle forms.  
Roxas opened the door to find the mechanic finishing a cigarette and putting it out against the wall.  
A black beanie covered his eyes and most of his hair in shadow.  
The grey vest he’d first seen him in was replaced by a white t-shirt and a dark green and blue horizontal zip-up hoodie. Black skinny leg jeans and army boots completed the ensemble that he expected was more for a quick getaway than for fashion.  
His heart jumped.  
“Sor, our ride’s here”  
He held the door open as Sora came rushing out, pulling on his favourite black jacket and slammed the door behind him.  
Roxas followed Axel across the car park to the road, noticing that he had pulled his hair back into a short but neat ponytail. He looked perfectly normal, but then again they say that serial killers often do.  
Halfway to the road, he crashed into Sora, who had just stopped, like a statue. His stare was fixed on a black mustang with red flames up the side and the top down.  
Sat in the drivers’ seat, looking like he was advertising the vehicle not planning to drive it, was Riku.  
Roxas had seen him several times dropping his brother back at the DMV, but not this close up. Damn, Sora had good taste.  
“Hey Sora” Riku was twisted around and leaning against the car door.  
The youngest twin had gone completely pale and had lost the ability to move or form a sentence.  
“Hi”  
Roxas snorted noisily at the complete mental spasm.  
“Nice car” Sora stuttered  
“It belongs to Axel; he let me drive, so he could use the back seat.”  
He winked and Roxas immediately stopped laughing. Who the hell did this guy think he was?   
Axel vaulted the back door and beckoned for Roxas to sit next to him. He obliged cautiously.  
“Looks like you are in the front with me”   
Sora looked as if he was about to be sick.  
Better let me map read then” he said, finally finding his voice.   
He made himself comfortable in the passenger seat and grabbed the map from Riku’s outstretched fingers.  
“Roxy can’t do it for shit. Get’s us lost all the time”  
That was a Sora defence mechanism. When he felt scared he would make himself feel more confident by putting someone else down. He didn’t do it all the time, just moments of extreme anxiety and that moment was one of them.   
He was also trying to impress Riku, which went without saying.   
Roxas spent most of the journey to the mall venting his wrath on the back of his brother’s neck as revenge for using the nick name he hated, hoping that his head would explode.  
The journey included three stops in lay-bys to look at the map and a detour in the countryside. Riku eventually screeched into the car park, performing a handbrake turn that would have been no good for the car and aggressively turned off the engine almost snapping the key in half.  
“Axel is driving on the way back.” He snapped in Sora’s direction.  
As soon as they hit the air conditioned haven of the cut glass mall, Sora and Riku- after a few words to Axel- vanished.  
The last Roxas saw of Riku was his silver hair going into a bookstore. He knew exactly where Sora had gone. To the same comic shop he always went to when he was not having a good time.  
Roxas and Axel were left on their own, walking through the mall.  
“So” Said Roxas breaking the silence “How do you know Riku?’  
“I’ve known him since we were 14. I live with him and his brother Sephiroth”  
The only Sephiroth Roxas knew was his old history teacher who scared the shit out of him. He hoped to God that it wasn’t the same guy.  
They continued walking in silence to the coffee bar at the far end of the mall.  
Axel claimed a table and beckoned Roxas to join him. A smile appeared on his face as soon as the blonde sat down. He got up again, returning minutes later with two cups of coffee, and placed them down on the table.  
“Hi, the names Axel. I bought you a coffee, ok if I sit here?”   
Roxas paused, confused, then smiled to himself.   
He took the coffee and sipped it before raising his gaze at the redhead.  
“Nice to meet you. I’m Roxas.”  
Axel reached over to grab the sugar packets he’d dumped on the table seconds earlier, brushing his hand across the blondes as he did so. Roxas' heart jumped for the second time that afternoon.  
“Is that your real name?”  
“Unfortunately, yes.”  
“I like it, it’s interesting.” Roxas blessed the redhead with a half smile “So, do you usually leave your number in stranger’s cars?” he said, changing the subject  
“You’re an exception.”  
He watched as Axel tore the tops off the packets with his long fingers and lazily poured the sugar before stirring it with a wooden stick.  
“How are Sora’s driving lessons going?”  
A nice unobtrusive question.  
“I think your friend’s made a few thousand out of Sora by now” Roxas answered absently.  
Axel looked confused at the response, then grinned. Then he laughed, cue the tingling feeling that cascaded up his spine.  
“That’s why he went a weird colour, ‘Ku never said”  
Roxas stopped laughing. Axel hadn’t quite got the gravity of the situation and the explanation for Sora’s behaviour.  
“You don’t understand, Sora has been after this guy for a year. Booked lessons as soon as he knew he taught them. It’s not often the guy of your dreams turns up on a blind date.”  
“I don’t know about that.”  
Roxas brushed off the comment as a first date over share. Not that the date was particularly blind, but that was beside the point.  
“You want to know what I think?”  
Roxas leant forward, eager to tell his conspiracy to someone who hopefully wouldn’t think he was being stupid or childish.  
“Go on”  
“I think Sora fails his tests on purpose”  
The redhead started laughing again  
“You know what the tragic thing is?” Axel said.  
Roxas shook his head  
“Riku, never dates his students?”

Roxas was halfway through explaining a film plot to a none too thrilled Axel when his phone vibrated like it was having a seizure.  
He took it out of his pocket and looked at the little screen on the front.  
“Sora” He mouthed as he flipped the phone open.  
“Dude, are you on glue?” Screeched the voice on the other end.  
“I didn’t know”  
“Like hell you didn’t”  
“Sorry” He mouthed to the redhead as he went back to the conversation.  
“No point arguing with me, you’re the one who made an ass out of himself” he said into the receiver.  
“This is all your fault; he thinks I’m an idiot”  
“I’m sure he doesn’t. He went in to the bookstore by the front door half an hour ago, he might still be there. Go talk to him.”  
“Dude, he hates me. What am I going to talk to him about?”  
“The finer points of tapestry.” He said in his best sarcastic tone.  
Noticing the annoyance on Roxas’ face, Axel grabbed the phone and put it to his ear.  
“Tell him I sent you to find him. We’re at the café.”  
He handed the phone back to Roxas who flipped it shut.  
“You could hear the whole conversation?”  
“The whole mall could hear. Is he always like that?’  
“Only when he’s flustered. Anyway where were we?”  
Axel raised an eyebrow.  
“Oh yeah, the plot of Gone in 60 Seconds. I can’t believe you’ve never seen it.”

Sora and Riku emerged from the glass lift 30 minutes later carrying silver bags. Sora was waving his around, occasionally smacking Riku in the side with it. They were being followed by a group of very unsubtle girls who giggled every time they were spotted.  
They dumped the bags at the table and Riku headed to the coffee bar.  
“You found him then?” Roxas asked as his brother pulled up a stool to the table and sat down.  
“Graphic novel section” He said happily. “I astounded him with my knowledge of the artistic merit of Resident Evil and the size of my Manga collection.”   
“Then what?”  
“He wants to come over and play it some time.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “And I got his phone number.”  
“Now you have that, you might have to pass your driving test”  
“No problem could have passed last year if I wanted” He said dismissively.  
A packet of sugar sailed over the table in Sora’s direction, landing in his hair; he retaliated by throwing two that scraped Roxas’ face and dropped into his coffee. Soon it developed into an all out war with Axel as the unwilling referee who secretly took sides, sliding sugar packets to Roxas underneath the table.  
“The lady behind the counter said to stop before she calls security.”  
Roxas looked up to see Riku who was holding two mugs and had an eyebrow raised.  
“Sor, I got you a latte. Sorry, I got angry.”  
“That’s ok” Sora replied, taking the drink from Riku’s hand and bestowing everyone with a blinding megawatt smile.  
The megawatt was patented and infamous, created to melt the heart of anyone with one. Not that Roxas was jealous, he could do a way better death glare which was useful if they were in trouble and the megawatt didn’t work. Sora in his infinite wisdom and unfortunate knowledge of wrestling called it the ‘double team’ method.  
Sitting in silence Roxas half listened to the conversation that was happening around him. He dug a pencil out of this pocket and grabbed an embossed paper napkin from the dispenser on the table.  
No-one noticed, all engaged in watching Axel who was revelling in being centre of attention. From what Roxas could catch is was a story about one of his brothers friends who had no sense of humour. He started sketching, noting the light reflection and the intricate lines of the people in front of him.  
“Then Cloud…”  
Sora, who had spent the last few minutes staring in rapt attention, stood up. He pointed at Axel.  
“Through careful deduction involving appearance and mannerisms and the fact that probably everyone in town only knows one person named Cloud, leads me to suspect that you are in fact Reno’s brother.”  
It was one of the most intelligent things he had said ever, but it was still goddamn obvious.   
“Way to go Phoenix Wright.”   
Axel reached over and gave Sora’s hair a condescending ruffle, then leant gracelessly over Roxas' shoulder.  
“That me?”  
The grey portrait was detailed, showing him laughing.   
“That’s pretty good”  
“It’s just a sketch. You can have it if you like.”  
Roxas passed Axel the napkin, then scrunched up his face before snatching it back from Axel’s still outstretched fingers. He looked mildly surprised.  
“Hang on”  
He scribbled something in the corner then handed it back. Axel looked at it then responded with a smile.  
“You can have my number, legit this time.”

The sun was low in the sky, pouring orange light through the mall’s glass roof.   
A voice over the tannoy –which Sora was sure when he was seven was God- concisely and politely stated that the mall would close in half an hour and that everyone should get the hell out.  
“Lets get out of here, I have to teach tomorrow.”  
Riku nudged Sora, who was resting his head on his arms.  
Axel threw the car keys to Riku.  
“Put your stuff in the car. I have something to show Rox.”  
Roxas raised an eyebrow at the name, but followed Axel at double speed down the mall anyway. He finally stopped next to a photo booth.  
“To commemorate this auspicious occasion, I think we should have a photo taken”  
Roxas frowned.   
“I want a photo.”  
Roxas had trouble working out whether the face Axel was pulling was goddamn sexy or downright evil.  
“Ok”  
The tone was wary. He was by himself without his brother or anyone to protect him from molestation if his date was inclined to do so.  
They squeezed into the tight space and pulled the curtain. Axel sat down and beckoned for Roxas to join him.  
The blonde gingerly sat on his knees, then felt himself pulled back onto the redheads lap.  
“Smile for the camera”  
Roxas felt an arm reach around his back and fingers dig into his side. He smiled and the camera flashed.  
“Now you’re in trouble  
He put two fingers up behind Axel’s head and waited for the flash.  
“Hey Rox”  
The movement happened in a spilt second; he was grinning then felt lips pressed against his own. The camera flashed before Roxas pushed back. His eyes open in shock, looking and feeling absolutely terrified. The camera flashed again before he got back his senses and finally moved.  
“How dare you” He spat before pulling the curtain back and running towards the car park. Leaving Axel waiting for the pictures alone.  
“It was a joke Rox.” He called to blonde’s retreating figure. The photos quietly processed unaware of the havoc that they’d just caused.  
He looked at the photos as he sauntered to the car park, deciding that the short term pain of a pissed Roxas was worth it.  
He started the car; Roxas sitting in silence in the passenger seat refusing to look at him or speak any words other than “Take me home”  
Looking into the rear view mirror, he noticed Riku holding a CD. Its crystal case reflecting the car park lights.  
“What’s that ‘Ku?”  
“Lucifer’s Angel.”  
Axel scrunched his face in distaste  
“How can you listen to that?”  
“I love those guys.”  
Roxas was finally speaking. Not to him, but in a conversation involving him, which was something.  
“Me and Zex have seen them 15 times. They’re playing at the stadium next week. Put them on.”  
Axel narrowed his eyes. They could be pretty expressive when he wanted them to be.  
Who was this Zex? Was this a date?   
“I’m driving, so I get first pick. Sora, that do you have?”  
“Refrain of Denial.” His voice was practically silent, not wanting his favourite band of all time to be ripped to pieces.  
Axel perked up. At least someone in the car had good taste.  
Refrain of Denial filled the car as they reversed at speed out of the car park, the guitar solo competing with the roar of the engine.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

 

Axel had been standing outside the Strife’s apartment block for about half an hour, trying to decide the best way to apologise and was surprised he hadn’t been picked up by the police as a stalker or something. He took a deep breath, pressed the number for for Roxas’ apartment and waited for the hollow beep that signalled that someone had picked up the call.  
“Rox, that you?” He shouted into the intercom.  
“What do you want asshole?”  
From the venom in the voice, it was definitely his date from the day before.  
“I screwed up ok, I’m sorry.”  
“What do you want me to do about it?”  
“I want to take you out again and make it up to you”  
“And why would I let you do that?”  
Axel looked around to see if anyone was listening in on the rather one sided sounding conversation  
“I really like you” The desperation even surprised Axel himself. “Are you going to let me in?”  
“No. Here’s how it’s gonna go. You’re gonna pick me up at 8.00 tonight and take me to the cinema on Twilight to see that new horror movie. You will pay for everything and no skimping on the snacks. I’ll be very hungry.”  
Axel felt himself nodding.  
“And if you are really lucky I may let you kiss me when you bring me home.”  
That got his attention.  
“OK” he said in to the receiver, to find that the hollow noise at the end of the intercom had gone. Roxas had hung up on him.

********************************************

“So, how did it go?”  
Riku was lying on Axel’s bed, feet up against the wall, head off the end.   
“We saw that new vamp flick that I think was actually porn in disguise and ate most of the snacks in the place.”  
Axel kicked off his shoes into a pile by the door and joined Riku on the bed.  
“Do you know how much that cost me?”  
“Did it work though?”  
A sly grin made it’s way across Axel’s face.  
“It’ll take that as a yes.”  
The redhead leaned over and pushed his friend off the side of the bed and he landed with a gentle thump on the carpet.  
“Did you see Sora?”  
Riku got up and rested his head on the side of the bed.  
“For a few minutes. Why?”  
“How did he look?”  
“Like Sora. Did you want to know what he was wearing or something?”  
“Did he look happy?”  
“Doesn’t he always”  
Axel looked over at his friend and grinned. It was an awful lot of questions to ask.  
“You called him didn’t you.”  
“Might have done.”  
“Thought you didn’t date your students.”  
“I’ve made an exception”

 

***************************************

 

“Let’s go to the park” Axel’s voice was insistent.   
They were in Riku’s living room, curtains closed to the dark outside, lights muted enough to cast shadows.  
He leant over the arm of the sofa where Roxas was lying and blew in his face.  
The blonde put down the newspaper he was trying to read and rolled his eyes at Axel’s enthusiasm.  
“It’s dark.”  
“I’ll push you on the swings.”  
“Such an incentive”   
A cushion sailed over and hit Roxas on the head.   
“You’re not all there, you know that.”  
Axel pulled a face, picked up his house keys from the glass topped table, grabbed Roxas by the foot and pulled him off the sofa.  
“Lets go Rox”  
20 minutes later Roxas was hanging upside down by his knees on the highest bar of the climbing frame. His T-shirt riding up by his neck, the cool breeze tickling his skin, raising goosebumps.   
Below him, leaning against a metal support bar, Axel was finishing a cigarette, the smoke spiralling lazily into the air. He tilted his head upwards to admire the view and the uncharacteristic display of athleticism  
“You gonna be hanging there all night?”  
“If you don’t come and get me down.” The reply was coy.  
Axel dropped the finished cigarette on the ground and sauntered the couple of meters to the blonde.  
He smiled slyly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, finally tilting his head up and locking lips with the blonde long enough for his boyfriend to nearly fall off the frame as all the blood rushed to his head.  
He grinned as Roxas broke the kiss and pulled himself up so he was perched on top of the frame.  
“Nice try.” He purred.  
“Come down and we can do that again.”  
“No, you come up here.” The words spoken softly and full of promise.  
Axel reached up, grabbed one of the a-frame bars and pulled himself up, moving with grace despite his height.   
He sat on top a bar facing Roxas  
“So” He said, grinning  
“So”  
“I’m glad I found you”  
“Really?”  
“You have no idea”  
He reached out put his hand on Roxas neck and pulled him forward. Their lips met, tongues tangoed, wandering hands lit by the stars.


	6. Before I loose my mind

Sora paced the kitchenette, almost wearing a hole in the linoleum. He kept looking at his watch. Mickey’s left hand moving slower every time. His twin watched him, his head resting on his hand, finger tapping out a rhythm on the counter top he was leaning against.   
“He’ll be running out that door in two minutes. Guaranteed”  
“You’re obsessed.” The response was tired.  
Roxas face wrinkled in surprise seconds later when Cloud ran full pelt towards the door, helmet in hand, opened the door like he was escaping a fire and slammed it after him.  
“That’s it.” Sora stomped his foot  
“What’s it?”  
“Our cover story is that you’re taking me out to celebrate passing my test”  
“We did that already today” The statement was accompanied by a groan.  
“You were so happy, that you’re taking me out again tonight.”  
That statement was answered with a raised eyebrow.  
Sora grabbed Roxas by the sleeve, groped in his coat pocket for the car keys, and threw them at his twin, who caught them.  
“You want to stalk Cloud?”  
“Yes.” The word was more of a hiss. “He disappears every Thursday at 8.00 and doesn’t come back till morning. Dude, I want to know what the hell he’s doing.”  
“You know we could get jail time for this. Or even worse, Cloud could catch us.”  
“Where’s you’re sense of adventure? You coming or am I borrowing your car?”  
Sora lunged to snatch the keys, but Roxas closed his hand around them and followed Sora out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind them.  
Roxas threw the keys at Sora as soon as they got to the car, who happily got into the drivers seat. They waited for Cloud to pull out of the garage on Fenir, Roxas fidgeting in the passenger seat.  
“You know your cover story sucks?”  
Sora pouted at Roxas who had the nerve to ridicule his plan.   
“You have a better idea.” He retorted sulkily.  
“Actually, yes I do.”  
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed number two on his speed dial, then the loudspeaker button.  
“Hey Foxy Roxy.” The voice on the other end purred “Thanks for last night. Been thinking about it all day.”  
Roxas went slightly pink and Sora grinned at his discomfort.  
“Ax, you’re on loudspeaker.” The voice went silent. “I’m taking Sor out for passing his test.”  
“Congrats short stuff.”  
“Thanks”   
“I was wondering what you were doing tonight?” Roxas continued.  
“Nothing, ‘cept beating Riku on Smash Brothers”  
A few choice words audible in the background  
“I can pick you up by the shop at the end of your road.”  
“No, the side road by the corner shop at the bottom of Twilight.” Piped up Sora.  
He started to rev the engine.  
“Bring Riku if you like. See ya later.”  
Roxas hung up, looking over at Sora who was a pinky colour that was getting deeper by the second.  
Revenge.  
“I’ll drive.” He shoved Sora, who clamoured through the two front seats into the back. “How do you know he goes down Twilight?” The voice was suspicious  
“Zack told me” his voice was sheepish “Cloud has a delivery at 08.30”  
“So this was a premeditated plan?”  
Sora nodded.  
“I knew where, but not when. Anyway you can’t say anything, using your boyfriend as an alibi. Sometimes, I don’t know you at all.”  
“You get to see Riku.” Roxas put on the silly sing song voice that Sora used on him. Fortunately, he wasn’t tone death.  
A revving engine broke the silence  
“Go” Sora urged.  
Roxas pulled out of the driveway, following behind Cloud at a safe distance.  
“Speed up”  
“You know I hate backseat drivers.”  
“That’s because you drive like an old lady.”  
“I don’t”  
“Do too”  
“Sor.” Roxas’s voice had a dangerous edge.  
They stopped at the traffic lights. Cloud was at least three car lengths ahead. He sped off as soon as the lights changed green, finally pulling into a lay by next to a motorbike garage.  
Roxas swerved into a side road next to the garage and turned off the engine.  
“D’you think he saw us?”  
Roxas rolled his eyes, knowing full well that they would be torn limb from limb if they were caught.  
“Not sure”  
“If only you weren’t so conspicuous”  
“Why’s that’ Roxas eye’s narrowed  
“You are the only person around here who drives a red mini.”  
Roxas reached into the back ready to slap his brother.  
A knock on the window made him jump. On the other side of the glass as face grinned. Red hair like a tailored lions mane, green eyes crinkling in an undefinable expression.  
The passenger side door opened and Riku clambered into the back. Axel slid into the passenger seat. He leant over and kissed Roxas hello, before leaning against the window.  
“Riku was so excited that he practically forced me out the door.”  
This illicited a slap to the back of the head by the aforementioned silver head man, who was slowly moving closer to Sora who was getting pinker and pinker.  
Roxas started the engine and pulled away.  
“Seat belts” said Roxas absently as he stared at the road  
The car followed Fenir for a few more blocks before it turned into a side road and stopped. Cloud got off and went to a building through a side door.  
Roxas followed, pulled into the shadows and killed the engine.  
They sat in silence.  
“This isn’t a bar. Whats the deal Rox?”  
“We’re following Cloud” said Sora. “He disappears Thursday night and we want to know what the hell he’s been up to.”  
“Ok’  
Axel seemed satisfied with that argument which surprised Roxas. The guy was completely unpredictable.  
Cloud came back out, but didn’t get on his bike. He started walking, Roxas started the engine.  
“Kill it” Riku snapped “He’ll hear. We’ll have to follow on foot.”  
They got out the car and locked it. They jogged, careful to keep out of sight by ducking behind bins and trees.  
“You’re good at this” said Sora.  
He and Riku were ahead, Roxas and Axel ambling behind.  
“Addicted to P.I. movies.” he said  
Sora smiled, his teeth lighting up under the street lights.  
“Stop.” Riku pulled him down behind a recycling bin. Roxas and Axel followed suit.  
Cloud had stopped outside a house, he put his hand in his pocket, pulling out an object and unlocking the door. He went inside and closed the door.  
It was at that moment that Axel realised he’d seen the elder Strife before, delivering to the garage. Not that they had ever met, the blonde preferring to deal with the owner.  
“You know whose house this is don’t you?” whispered Axel, loud enough for them all to hear. “Good job you brought me”  
“Fine, I’ll bite” Roxas finally uttered “Who’s house is it?”  
“It’s my boss Leon’s” he said the words like he was announcing a miracle. “But, what’s more interesting is why he has a key.”

 

Interlude - Zack

Zack was sitting on the front steps of the rental house, rolling his first cigarette of the day. A thick jacket, stripy scarf, jeans and biker boots keeping most of the wind-chill out, but the tips of his fingers that were uncovered by woollen gloves were feeling numb.   
He sipped black coffee from his favourite mug that sat beside him on the damp wood. It was one of those brightly coloured ones that had the world’s best brother emblazoned across it in cartoony letters. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t strictly his; it just made him feel like he had a family that wasn’t thousands of miles away on another continent.  
He finished rolling the cigarette, fished in his jacket pocket for a lighter and smiled to himself. The birds were singing, the sun was out and it was shaping up to be a pleasant day.  
He found the lighter in his inside pocket, tilted his head to light the paper and found that the sunlight was blocked by a figure looming over him  
The figure looked slightly spiky.  
“You know that’s gonna kill you” It said.  
“Good morning Cloud.”  
His voice was croaky like he had swallowed a cheese grater.   
“Why aren’t you at work?”  
“Why aren’t you?”  
Reno had left for work early that morning, leaving dirty dishes in the sink and the radio blaring out some sort of rock music that he didn’t know. The bonus of pulling two straight 8 hour shifts at the delivery depot was that he got an extra day off and he was planning to use it wisely.   
Namely, sleeping and eating the cold pizza that was in the fridge from the night before. It was something he wanted to do alone and didn’t feel much like company.  
Zack shuffled over on the steps and let Cloud sit next to him.  
“Garage has finished with Reno’s car.”  
“What’s that got to do with me?”  
“Whatever, he shouldn’t be driving that piece of shit”  
Zack took a drag from his finally lit cigarette and blew the smoke out in the blondes’ direction.  
“Do I look like his mother?”  
The conversation faded with them both looking at their shoes. With any of the normal person Zack usually conversed with, they would have said their goodbye’s by now and walked away. But with Cloud, long lapses in conversation were a regular and predictable occurrence.  
Zack furrowed his forehead then grinned.  
“What’s up? You didn’t walk 16 blocks to talk to me about my housemate.”  
Cloud rolled his eyes.  
“I had to get out the apartment.”   
From anyone else this would be a statement, but anyone who knew the blonde for as long as he had, knew that this was as close as Cloud got to a whine.  
“Roxas and Sora are having a two day Resident Evil marathon.”  
“Sounds fun”  
“My brain would liquefy”  
Cloud proceeded to do a perfect impression of Sora’s nasal whine about how to kill a zombie. Zack had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing, before nodding his head in sympathy once he spotted the scowl.  
He dropped the dead cigarette in his coffee cup.  
“Go stay with your friend from the garage”  
“Who? Leon?. Already asked. He’s got paperwork to do and says I snore.”  
“I know” Zack waited a beat for his friend to look interested. “Come stay with me. Reno’s out for his bi-monthly bitch with Axel and he’s staying over there tonight.”  
“Oh good. Once less evening corrupting my little brother.”  
“What’s your problem? He’s a nice kid”  
“They got to you too.”  
“There’s no conspiracy.” Zack sighed. “You don’t like Riku either.”  
“He’s related to Sephiroth and he’s been sniffing around Sora”  
“You can’t hate people because of who they're related to, or if they’re into your brothers”  
“I can”  
Zack rolled his eyes  
“Lucky for you I’m not related to anyone around here and I have no interest in either of your brothers, so you can’t hate me.”  
“No, you manage that all by yourself” Cloud muttered as he got up.  
That was another thing about Cloud, he left when he wanted to.  
“What was that?” Zack called, but his question missed the intended target.  
“6.30. My place” The yell was acknowledged by a raised hand.


	7. You want a piece of me?

Axel hit his bent knees against the breakfast bar as he tried to get comfortable. The Strife brother’s apartment was not the largest place and it was way too small for extremely tall people like himself.   
He chewed thoughtfully on his mouthful of cereal tapping his foot rhythmically on the bottom rung of the bar stool. He fiddled with the white mug next to him, tilting the dark sludge that has once been a cup of coffee. Roxas had downed most of it before racing to the bathroom to get there before any of this brothers to take a long steamy shower. The image had to be forced out of Axel’s head before he chased after the blonde. That action would only have been met with a glare and a door slammed in his face.  
He put the mug down a took another mouthful of the crunchy O’s in his bowl. He hated eating on his own, finding it quite boring. He would have had the radio on at home, but after a cursory glance around the Strife’s kitchen, he was unable to find one. A shock of blonde hair floated in the corner of his vision.  
“Hey Rox” He said without looking up, taking another mouthful of cereal.  
“You must be Axel”  
The redhead looked up and mumbled around the mouthful. The eldest Strife stood over him, his blue eyes cold. He fixed the visitor with a steady glare. Had Axel stood up at that point he would have towered this foe and then some, but even he knew that it wasn’t the right time to assert this fact or the fact that this guy had been giving a more personal service to his boss.  
Cloud didn’t bother to sit down, he leant on the bar, hands palm down, leaning forward.  
Axel had been thought a few of the big brother chats, but very few if any, had given him a shiver up his spine.  
“You look a lot like Reno”  
“He's my brother”  
Cloud’s eyes darkened. He was silent for a second and Axel recognised the look Roxas pulled before he went off the deep end. Cloud leaned in closer. Axel audibly swallowed his next mouthful and dropped his spoon with a clink into the empty bowl.  
“You behave like him?”  
“No” said Axel quietly, not wanting to enrage the blonde any more than he unwittingly had already. His usual attitude not working under these circumstances. He was no way the same as his brother. He had seen how he acted with women. It always annoyed him how they were compared or even mistaken for each other.   
He’d lost count of the amount of times he had been punched in the face when someone had caught sight of a flash of red hair in a semi-dark room.   
He frowned, knowing exactly where this interrogation was going to end from the look on Cloud’s face.  
The blonde walked around the breakfast bar slowly, running his fingers across the counter top and stopped dead in front of Axel’s sitting position.  
He tilted his head to the side like an owl eyeing up it’s prey, then straightened. In the shadow, his eyes were the colour of steel.  
Axel flinched as Cloud poked him hard in the chest, his strong fingers feeling like needles.  
“Hurt Roxas and I’ll tear you apart” He spat.  
Axel knew that it wasn’t an idle threat as Cloud turned and left the room.  
He watched the door close, completely speechless which was unusual. He would never hurt his Roxy. The guy was a complete psycho.

 

Roxas and Axel sat in a semicircular booth in a fifties style cafe. It was just down the road from the Strife’s apartment making the walk back for the Cloud approved curfew attainable.  
They were the only ones there apart from a waitress who was cleaning tables and filling ketchup bottles.  
“I had a nice chat with Cloud this morning”  
Roxas looked up from dissecting his slice of cherry pie and raised an eyebrow  
“It wasn’t a chat, more of a glare”  
The eyebrow went down again and his attention went back to the pie. Cloud had had many chats with anyone interested in him or Sora. He really hoped that Axel wouldn’t go the way of the others and be out of his life within a week.  
Axel reached out and tilted the blonde’s face up with a light finger.  
“Any other Strife’s for me to worry about?”  
He looked slightly odd, it was a new face that Roxas had never seen before.  
He smiled and thoughtfully finished his mouthful of pie.  
“You know Sora, he's no problem. The only thing he could do is blind you by smiling too much or dive you insane.  
He took a gulp of lukewarm coffee and swallowed.  
“And there’s Nami” he said off handedly waving his fork.  
“Nami?’  
“Eight year old pain in the ass half sister. Never seen without any thing pink.”  
He put the fork down noiselessly on the plate and slid it across the table. Axel eyed it suspiciously before poking it with the fork.  
“She sounds harmless”  
“As harmless as a virus, but she’ll probably turn to slushie when she meets you like when she first met Reno. It’s the hair I think.”  
Finally he noticed his demolished pie.  
“You going to eat that or play with it?”  
He watched as Axel slowly placed the pie in his mouth, but it was when he licked the cherry jam off his lips, that Roxas started to dribble.  
He heard a cough and found that the recipient of the orgasm face was grinning at him.  
“Roxy, you’re so predictable.”  
“Don’t do that in public places then.”  
“What if I want to?’  
“I’ll sic Cloud on you.”  
Axel went back to prodding the pie.  
“What about you?” Said Roxas, breaking the silence.  
“There’s Reno, but you’ve already met him. That’s it.”  
He sipped Roxas’s coffee  
“The parents are traveling the world. He’s supposed to keep an eye on me, like a responsible older brother and gets money every month for food, which he spends on beer. Last month he chucked me out and moved Zack in.”  
Roxas tried to look sympathetic.  
“Uh huh.”   
The sight of Axel eating pie had turned his brain to mush and was now unable to form intelligent sentences.   
“They have parties that are so good that they are on first name terms with everyone at the local police department.”  
The rage had turned to jealousy. “‘Ku was rattling around the house on his own after Seph left on tour with the army, so I moved in there.”  
Roxas looked down at the table and noticed that the napkin that went with the pie, was no longer able to fulfil the duties as it was intended. He leant over and scooped up the torn pieces, depositing the into the ash tray on the next table.   
“Sora’s been wittering on about Resident Evil for the past few days.” Roxas said quietly “Riku is pretty good at it apparently.”  
The sour expression on the redhead’s face was still there  
“For your information, he’s been practicing every night this week.” He snapped.  
Roxas grabbed another napkin, threw it in his face and it landed on the pie.

 

Interludes

 

Riku and Sora lounged on the sofa in Riku’s living room. The formers long legs resting on the coffee table in front of them. His arm comfortably around Sora’s shoulders, drawing him close to exchange small kisses. Sora lay against his shoulder, arm across Riku’s stomach, fingers absently stroking the skin under his t-shirt.   
At closer inspection, Riku was holding an Ipod in his other hand. They each had an earphone and lay listening to something no-one else could hear. in their own happy little world that it seemed rude to interrupt.

 

**********************************************

“Zexy?”  
Zexion looked up from his book  
“What Demyx?” he snapped  
“Demyx sat on the arm of Zexion’s chair and grabbed the book from his hands before slamming it shut. Zexion scowled  
“Do you love me more than cherry pie?”  
He raised an eyebrow  
“How does my favourite pie come into the equation?”  
He regretted asking the question as soon as he saw Demyx’s face.  
“Of course I do.”  
The words were spoken in measured thumps and punctuated with a sigh. he really hated unnecessary questions, unfortunately, Demyx was the king of them. Demyx responded with a 1000 watt grin and bounced off. So easy to please.


	8. Chapter 8

The front door opened before Axel could get the key in the lock. Roxas felt his stomach lurch.   
In the doorway, leaning way too casually against the doorframe was the man who’d made his life hell for 5 years in high school.   
Sephiroth slowly raided a thin silver eyebrow to appraise the new arrival, the Wii remote in his possession being tossed from one hand to the other.  
“It’s been a while Strife”   
His voice hadn’t changed, still held the same distain and superiority.   
“Two years Sir”  
The institution enforced pleasantries were still ingrained in his psyche. He would really have to get rid of them.  
The young blonde looked at his shoes to avoid the stony gaze that Sephiroth was famed for. It was a widespread, but credible rumour that he stared down a black bear once, causing it to flee in the other direction. He was determined not to do the same even thought he desperately wanted to.  
Sephiroth’s feet crept into his peripheral vision. Even they were perfect.   
Roxas felt a hand gently take his, regaining his confidence in the face of certain doom. He slowly looked up to meet Sephiroth's gaze then smiled.  
He looked fucking ridiculous.  
Roxas started laughing, but breathed in at the last minute giving him hiccups.  
Faded blue jeans finished halfway up Sephiroth’s calves revealing well muscled legs, an olive green sweatshirt hung off him, slanting to the left to show pale shoulder. He looked like he’d been dressing in the dark.  
“Hell Seph. You gonna let us in, or interrogate Rox on the doorstep?”  
Axel’s voice brought him back to the real world.   
“Seph let them in” Snapped a male voice from inside the house “Empty the dryer whilst you’re at it”  
The silver haired man at the door smirked then stepped to the side to let them pass. His long sliver hair tied back in a low ponytail with an elastic band swung as he moved.  
He genuflected at them as they walked down the hallway. Roxas’ chest tightened again and he felt extremely uncomfortable. It felt like he’d just walked into a haunted house at a funfair. You never knew what was around the corner. The bubble of apprehension burst when all he saw was some distinctly un scary magnolia painted walls, sporadically covered with family pictures.  
“Sir?”  
Axel asked as soon as they were out of earshot.   
“Was one of my teachers once, made my life hell”   
The simple words were all that Axel needed to hear.  
He followed Axel into a large loom. In the centre a couple of large blown leather sofas set in an L shape cut the room in half. Curtains closed to the sunlight to avoid glare on the apartment screen on the back wall. The brightly coloured characters on the screen were like statues.  
Riku turned and rested an arm on the back of the sofa. He grinned at them.  
“Sorry about Seph. Comes back every six months on leave, borrows everything I own and treats this place like a hotel” The apology aimed at Roxas.  
“It’s my house”  
Roxas turned to see Sephiroth standing behind them, holding a wicker washing basket in one hand, the Wii remote in the other.  
He put the basket down and elegantly vaulted over the back of the couch to land silently beside his brother.  
“Now he’s back, I can kick his ass at Soul Calibur.”  
Roxas weaved his way to the second sofa, dragging Axel with him. He threw himself on the sofa cushions. The redhead sat next his arm slung over the arm rest, the other around the blondes shoulder. He let Roxas fidget until he was comfortably settled and decided that his boyfriend was weird to be hung up on the past.  
He had about five memorable moments from high school, which seeing that they were seven years ago and he had spent most of the time there out of his head on one thing or another, it was impressive that he had any memory of them at all.  
The last interesting thing was being given head in the back of a minivan by a kid who really wanted to join the football team. Bold that really and underline it several times. The thing was, he wasn’t on the team, he did track. Less people to piss off apparently.  
He just wasn’t above lying to get what he wanted. He hadn’t lied to get Roxas and he was pretty proud of that fact.  
It wasn’t a compete lie on his part though. He was on the team for about three days, before he was caught doing something infinitely more interesting with a chick from the marching band. He couldn’t even remember her name, but she was blonde with weird hair antennae things that kept poking him in the face.  
He grinned to himself, his chin moving where it was resting on top of Roxas’ head. The blonde tilted his head and mouthed “what?”  
Axel shook his head and went back to watch the brothers and wished that his wasn’t a self obsessed moron.  
Ring out flashed across the screen after two moves.  
“I’m getting a drink.”  
The change from intimidating to a child throwing as hissy fit was almost instant.  
Sephiroth slunk out the room, not asking anyone if they wanted anything. From the look on Riku’s face, this wasn’t unusual.  
“Bad looser. Anyone want a game?”  
Roxas leapt up from his position and threw himself onto the other sofa. Axel frowned at the Roxas shaped warm spot that had started to get cold.  
“I’ll make it easy on you.”  
The blonde smirked as a response, grabbing the controller from where Sephiroth had thrown it in disgust. He scrolled through the characters, settling on Voldo.  
“You have to be joking.” Riku exclaimed  
Axel snorted.  
“He’s just bullshitting ya ‘Ku. Check out his cute poker face.”  
Roxas face stone walled, and then he proceeded to beat the hell out of Mitsurigi. You win flashed across the screen.  
“Shit. Play again.” It was more of a demand than a question. Riku didn’t like to loose.  
“A piece of friendly advice.” Roxas said at the end of the 6th winning fight “Unless you want a serious beat down, don’t play Sor. He’s better than me.”  
He grinned at Axel who by that time was looking slightly impressed.


	9. Chapter 9

It was late. Around 1.30 by Riku’s living room clock which was notoriously always wrong as Axel was late for everything. He was the only one in the house who didn’t own a watch, preferring his own version of time.  
The red neon facia gave part of the room an ugly glow, a few degrees from red light district.  
The rest of the room was dark apart from a slither of light creeping under the door from the hallway outside. The television in the corner flickered, projecting shadows onto the wall. The volume was turned down so low that it was overwhelmed by the ticking clock.  
Crushed beer cans lay like the dead on the carpet, a few having rolled under the glass topped coffee table. A few lucky ones were standing to attention next to a large cardboard pizza box. Discarded pieces of pepperoni swimming in the fat at the bottom.  
Against the wall opposite and across the room, dividing it in two were a couple of sofas that looked like they have been bought at a car boot sale 50 years ago.   
Demyx sat on the far end of the sofa that intersected the room. He’d been working on a beer for the past 20 minutes. Zexion was sprawled lengthways and had fallen asleep on his lap. The empty can he had been holding before he passed out, had fallen onto the carpet when he rolled over and had thrown his arm over the edge of the piece of furniture. He was now gently breathing and snuffling when dust got up his nose.  
On the other sofa was Axel, his long legs wrapped around Roxas who was trying his best to stay awake. He rocked forward and dropped his head until a mug of coffee was was shoved under his nose. He sat bolt upright and grabbed the chipped mug from Riku’s hand.  
Riku sloped off the other side of the sofa and threw himself onto it, avoiding Sora’s head by centimetres.  
Roxas tried to stand up, managing to fall to the side, only to be caught by Axel before the coffee hit the carpet.   
“Not going anywhere babe.”  
He was pulled backwards onto the redheads lap where he decided it was best not to fight and made himself comfortable. He gave Axel a disgruntled pout as he sipped his coffee, which was unfortunately for him an expression that the redhead thought was cute.  
He eventually wiggled out of Axel’s vice like grip and shuffled over to the other end of the sofa to play cards with Riku and Sora. Axel took his beer and sat by Demyx, ready to laugh at whatever Sora did next.  
“How did you and Zexion meet”  
Axel focused the question to Demyx  
“I saved his life”  
Demyx ruffled Zexion’s hair, who’s only response was to move to a more comfortable position. He rolled half of the sofa, leaving the blonde’s arm the only thing to keep him from falling.  
“I work with him. He’s in customer services and I work in aquatics. I used to try and talk to him, even practicing my half of the conversation in front of the mirror first. He admitted quietly.   
“Why do you think I resorted to leaving my number in Roxas’s car.   
Demyx smiled at the whispered display of empathy   
“The thing was that none of the conversations ever went to plan and I got all sweaty and ended up annoying him.”  
Demyx didn’t mind telling this story with a captive audience.  
“The only conversation that went right was the one where I had to give him mouth to mouth and had to swallow dirty pond water.”  
Roxas snorted.  
“He said he had taken a wrong turn and had slipped. He slipped because he was on crutches with a broken leg. Who would go to work with a broken leg?”  
He bought me a drink to say thanks, I left my number on his cast and it went from there.”  
“Rox, come here a minute.”  
Demyx called to the blonde who looked up from his card game. he shook his head refusing to leave a game where one, he was winning and two, didn’t trust Sora not to cheat.  
“Do you know how Zexion broke his leg?” Demyx continued, ignoring the scowl sent his way.  
“Experiment number 8” he said simply, before looking back at his cards and smiling. “Anyone got a 7?”  
“Go fish” Said Riku wearily.  
Roxas was too hyped up for him and he spent a lot of time with Sora. He realised that it was a bad idea to give him a third cup of coffee.  
“You can’t say that and not make with the details. It’s so unfair.”  
Roxas recognised the tone as tell me or I’ll steal your favourite shoes.  
“You mean he hasn’t told you?’  
He looked up at Demyx who was pouting and gently pulling Zexion’s hair. He shook his head.  
Roxas put his cards down  
“I fold”  
The relief on Riku’s face was instant. 11 games of go fish were enough for him.  
Roxas dragged Axel back to their position of the sofa and sat on the floor using Axels’ legs as a back rest.  
“It’s really good.” he said, sipping his now stone cold coffee.   
Axel rolled his eyes, took the cup from Roxas and pushed himself off the sofa so Roxas was between his legs and he could rest his head on the blondes. The finished masterpiece resembled a totem pole.  
Demyx had also made himself comfortable on the arm rest, careful not to disturb Zexion's slumber.   
“Ok, a little background. Zex got a chemistry set for this 14th birthday.’  
Roxas paused for a second.  
“And?”  
Axel’s voice vibrated throughout his body.  
“He’ll kill me for telling you this.”  
“Only if we tell.”  
Demyx gave him an evil grin. It was an unusual facial expression, like he’d been taking lesson from Axel.  
“Ok, his birthday ended with a trip to casualty, being grounded for a month and no chemicals till he was 18.”  
Roxas garbled the whole thing quietly for fear of waking his friend who was a notoriously light sleeper. Zexion didn’t move a muscle and the blonde was thankful for the sleep inducing effects of beer and carb laden pizza.  
“Then what?”  
Demyx seemed to be desperate for blackmail material, Roxas assumed that it was to get the skinny leg jeans that hung in the wardrobe without an repercussions.  
“Then came the broken leg.” The tone was urgent, eager to push the story along.  
“Picture this scene.’ Roxas was really starting to enjoy himself. “Zexion at the bottom of the stairs with some weird metal boots on his feet, muttering something about science hating him. I had to take him to hospital and he whinged like a child the whole way about the college science fair. They had to surgically stick a metal rod in his right leg which cost a bomb and was told no electrical stuff until he was 21.  
Stupidly, I offered to help him get around, hence I am the guinea pig.  
“What does he do now?  
Demyx shuffled towards them.  
“Food.”  
“And I thought he cooked for me out the kindness of his heart.”  
“Think yourself lucky that you still have your eyebrows.’  
“No electrical stuff till he’s 21 huh?” Axel interjected.   
“That explains why he’s afraid of the toaster.” Demyx grinned, an evil one that wouldn’t look out of place on a Batman villian. He was extremely happy with his blackmail material.

 

To anyone who looked into the bedroom would think that it was the room of two average teenage boys.  
the alarm was bleating beside the bed nearest the door. Clothes were spread over the floor, sitting in heaps where they fell.  
The alarm trill was finally muted by a hand that shot out of the duvet then snapped back into the warmth. 10 minutes later it bleated again. The hand shot out and hit snooze. This happened a few more times each hit getting more and more aggressive, finally cumulating with the clock flying through the air and exploding against the wall. Axel rolled over, taking the duvet with him and revealing Roxas who had curled up in a ball with his back to him.  
The blonde grabbed the corner of the duvet and rolled up in it. Axel opened one eye slowly, scratched his head and sat up.  
“Morning Rox”  
He reached over and gently pulled the blondes spikes that were poking out the top of the duvet. The duvet twitched.  
“Roxie” Axel wheedled, bending over to lick the skin on the blonde’s shoulder.  
“Pervert.” Moaned the blonde peacefully.  
“Don’t you know it.”  
Roxas opened his eyes.  
“We’re not at your place.”  
“Sora stayed over there, but I dragged you back at 3 this morning. We have the room all to ourselves.”  
Axel gave his usual predatory grin that Roxas ignored. He sat up and kissed the redhead lightly on the lips before snuggling into his arms  
“On the plus side, we don't have Sephiroth glaring at us over breakfast.” He said  
“No, we have Cloud, which is probably 10 times worse.  
“My brother’s not that bad.” he looked up at Axel with what he hoped where big innocent eyes.  
“You’re so cute when you’re defending him.”  
“He just thinks that you’re a bad influence, that you’ve corrupted me.”  
“It’s not my fault that you’re so corruptible.”  
He kissed Roxas on the forehead and let his hand wander down the inside of his left thigh. “Anyway, you liked guys before I got my hands on you.”  
“But, he doesn’t know that.”  
“In that case I will gallantly take the blame for any of your misdeeds in the eyes of your brother.”  
“Such a gentleman.” Roxas pretended to swoon.  
“And don’t you forget it.”  
Axel ran his fingers through his unruly spikes making it look like he had stuck his whole hand in an electric socket.  
“He hates Riku too, it’s not just you.”  
“I’ll have to try harder then.” Axel whispered into the blondes ear, before nibbling his earlobe.   
Roxas shivered and quietly moaned, so quiet, that Axel could only feel it vibrate through his chest. He dove under the duvet and pulled Axel under with him.


	10. I'm a liar

Roxas whizzed clockwise on the roundabout, pushed by an overzealous Demyx who was trying his best to wipe the miserable look off his friend’s face by making him sick.  
He’d been in the park all afternoon with Riku and Sora, Zexion and Demyx and was feeling like a fifth wheel. Axel was supposed to be there hours ago. He was usually late, but this was ridiculous.  
They had been in the sun, eating sandwiches carefully cut at right angles by Zexion and playing frisbee, but now darkness was falling and Axel still hadn’t arrived.  
Roxas had called the redhead several times that day and was sick to death of his answer phone message.  
Demyx checked Zexion’s watch for the seventh time in five minutes.  
“Sorry Rox, we have to go. Picking up half of Zexy’s family from the airport.”  
He got up from the picnic blanket and pulled Zexion up with him.   
“I have to leave too, early lesson tomorrow. You coming Sor?”  
Riku smiled at Sora who stayed sitting.  
“I’m gonna stay with Rox.”  
“Ok, give me a call when you get home, so I know you’re ok.”  
“I think I’m going to throw up.” said Roxas spitefully.  
Riku frowned, but his expression changed as he saw Sora grin.  
“He’s just jealous. See you later babe.”  
Sora stood up and kissed Riku goodbye, taking the opportunity to have a good grope.  
Riku grinned, before turning away and leaving them alone on the blanket.  
“I wish Axel would care like that.”  
“I’m sure he does, he’s just busy at the moment.”  
They silently watched the stars, not that they moved. Time itself was irrelevant.  
The stars and the darkness disappeared from Roxas’ view, replaced by Axel’s head and shoulders.  
“Sorry I’m late, what did I miss?”  
“Everything.” Roxas spat “Why didn’t you call, I’ve been waiting for you all day.”  
“Was at work” Axel mumbled  
“I kinda figured.”  
“I’ll make it up to you.”  
Sora shuffled uncomfortably, wishing he had gone home with Riku. He could have been doing something a lot more fun.  
“Again?. How many more times?”  
Roxas got up and pulled Sora with him. He gathered up the blanket.   
“Come on Sor, we’re going home.”  
He turned his back on the redhead and stalked away.  
“We’ll do something tomorrow night, I promise” Axel’s voice carried on the wind. “I’ll come over to yours and pick you up.”

“You want to go to the movies tonight?”  
Axel and Roxas were lying on the latter’s bed, the blonde lying against Axel’s chest, playing with one of the tassels on his hoodie.  
“I can’t go out tonight, I have to work.” The words were mumbled.  
Roxas instantly sat up.  
“You said that last night and the night before that. You’ve said that for weeks.” Roxas spat. “I see more of Sephiroth than I do of you.”  
“It’s a big project. I’m sorry.”  
“No you’re not”  
Axel closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable jolt of pain to shoot through his face. It didn’t come.  
Roxas got up, shoved past him and ran towards the door, his brain refusing to deal with what had just happened.  
Axel grabbed his arm, all feelings migrating to the spot like iron filings to a magnet.  
“Is there someone else?” Roxas said quietly.  
“No.” Axel shook his head “Of course not.”  
“Your job just means more to you that I do, that’s all.” His voice was sad. “You never said that you loved me. You won’t miss me.” Roxas’ voice cracked at the last four words.  
“Maybe it does, and maybe I won’t” Axel retorted.  
Roxas shoved past the redhead and opened the door. He slammed it shut as he left.  
Axel finally moved when he heard the front door slam.  
“You’ve got it all wrong. He shouted at the closed door.”If I don’t have you, I am nothing. You’re supposed to be with me.”  
He said the last few words sadly before hitting the wall so hard plaster fell from indent he had made. So much for his security deposit. Sephiroth was just pedantic enough to get him to sign a contract and charge him for the privilege. 

 

Interlude

Sora opened the apartment door quietly so not to wake anyone even though it wasn’t that late and crept through the door with Riku, who backed up in surprise when he spotted Roxas at the breakfast bar surrounded by cereal boxes. From the look of the surface he was on his second box of Crunchy O’s.  
Sora grabbed Riku by the arm and ushered him out of the door.  
“Go through the back way. Let Cloud deal with him.”  
Riku raised an eyebrow, but followed Sora his bedroom window thanking God that the Strife’s apartment was on the ground floor. After shoving Sora through the window and pulling himself through they sat in a heap on the carpet.  
“Ok, Explain to me why we had to look like burglars?’  
“Roxas is upset about something”  
“You could tell that from a 5 second look in the kitchen?”  
“He eats cereal when he’s depressed and I thought that it would be safer for you if we left Cloud to deal.”  
“Any idea why?’  
The patented adorable thinking look appeared on Sora’s face. Well, that was in Riku’s opinion.  
“Axel’s been spending a lot of time at work lately.”  
Riku dragged Sora backwards to his bed, where they lay, backs to the headboard.  
“So what are we going to do?”  
“We could tell him that Axel’s got a surprise planned for his birthday”  
“But, that would ruin it”  
Sora looked genuinely shocked at the suggestion, pushing Riku on the floor where he landed with a thump.  
“It’s no use having a surprise if they break up, is it?”  
Riku murmured as he got up off the floor. Sora scrunched up his face then grinned.  
“If Rox goes to the garage and sees that Axel isn’t doing anything dodgy or suspicious, he should forgive him right?”  
“One problem, how do we get him down there?.”  
“I’ll do what I do best.”  
“What, eat?”  
Sora swatted at Riku who ducked  
“No, cause trouble”

 

**********************************************

The intercom beeped in the apartment.   
“What?’ Cloud snapped into the receiver, taking the visitor by surprise.  
“Is Roxas in?” Axel’s voice was clear over the intercom.  
“No” it was a blunt reply  
A couple of swear words followed by the word psycho barraged down the intercom. The language indicated that the mental well-being of the redhead was pretty much zero, not that Cloud cared. The guy must have a death wish.  
“Do you realise the mess you’ve made” He said.

Reno followed Riku into the living room, hoping to find his brother fit and well and not as the rumour stated, a shell of his former self.   
He hadn’t seen or heard from Axel since the beginning of his ill advised dip in the kiddie pool.  
He noticed hair that mirrored his own, but was dismayed to find the shape was curled up in a tight ball.  
Axel looked up from his position by the window. His left eye surrounded by a dark bruise and a cut held together by tape, that intersected his eyebrow.  
“He’s been moping for three days now. Refuses to eat, just sleeping and working. Muttering that there’s no point anymore. He’s even ignoring all of Seph’s attempts to wind him up.”  
“What the hell did Roxas to to him?”  
“More like what did Cloud to to him?” Sephiroth appeared in the doorway, holding a mug of something steaming that he thrust in Axel’s direction.   
“What are you doing here?” Sephiroth addressed the elder redhead with distain. “You haven’t bothered with him for months.”  
“He’s still my little brother. I’ve come to take him home.”  
“He’s not a puppy or a child” Sephiroth snapped.  
Axel looked up. The guy he thought hated him, was for once being a good guy. He smiled, his first one in days.

Cloud was not a irrational man, just one who didn’t like his family being hurt. No one made Roxas eat three boxes of cereal one after another like a chain smoker. His hand had hurt after he had knocked the redhead out cold, but that was no conciliation to his face.


	11. I will not be broken

The bashing on the front door interrupted Riku’s Smash Brothers winning streak. He watched in dismay as Link was thrown off the off the edge of the screen, taken out by Pikachu of all characters.  
He threw the controller onto the sofa where it bounced off a cushion and lay on the floor mocking him. Still the noise kept coming.  
“Riku. Are you home?”  
The silver haired man pressed pause and sloped towards the door. As soon as he clicked open the lock a blonde blur shoved its way through and Riku was pushed against the wall.  
“Is Axel here?”  
“He’s at work.”  
“Good, I’m here to collect my stuff.”  
Roxas took his cardboard box into Axel’s room and returned minutes later with it haphazardly stuffed with possessions. He put it down in the hallway.  
“Don’t tell him I was here.” his voice breaking by the end of the sentence.  
“Do you want to talk about it?”  
Roxas frowned and gently shook his head.  
Riku lead him to the sofa and gently pressed the Wii remote into his hand.  
“You can be Link if you like.”  
They sat in silence until Link finally beat the ice climbers.  
“Does he usually work this much?”  
“Sometimes”  
Riku pressed pause.  
“I never got to see him. Is there someone else?”  
“He’s not mentioned anyone to me. Look, I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you. Maybe you should talk to him, it’s been a couple of weeks.”  
At the mention talking to his ex, Roxas started to get up.  
“I have to go. Thanks for the game.”  
“Anytime.”  
Roxas rose from the sofa, but flopped back down when someone started bashing on the front door.  
“Rox, you in there?”  
A door slammed from inside the house.  
“Seph’s awake” Riku grimaced. Cold air wafted through the house as Sephiroth opened the door.  
“Cloud” A distant murmur  
“Sephiroth.”  
Cloud appeared in the living room doorway seconds later.   
“Roxas” he sounded breathless “It’s Sora.”  
Roxas and Riku’s faces simultaneously turned white.  
“Whats happened?” the younger blonde squeaked  
“He took your car out and crashed into lamp post. He’s in hospital”  
Roxas and Riku vaulted the sofa almost tipping it over and followed Cloud out the door. Sephiroth closed the door behind them, noticing that Roxas had left his box behind.

Sora looked pathetic, like he had been hit by a 10 ton truck. Riku sat down next to the bed in the only chair and took Sora’s hand.  
Roxas stood at the bedside and watched as Sora opened his eyes.  
“Sor, what the hell d’you think you were playing at?”  
He knew he had yelled when Riku blessed him with a look that would make a nun faint, but by that point, he didn’t care.   
Sora was in hospital, his car was probably in a vehicle pound, beaten to a pulp and Axel was never going to speak to him ever again. Life sucked.  
“Sora doesn’t need this right now” Riku whispered. “Go and get us a cup of coffee.”  
Why Riku would want a coffee out of the machine was beyond him, but he left anyway. He shut the door as he left and sloped off to join Cloud in the waiting room. It was easy to find him, he wasn’t exactly conspicuous. He was reading a magazine about cake decorating.  
“Cloud.” He looked up “He’s broken his leg, he’s not dead.”  
Not the best way to be reassuring. He knew that after he had spoken.  
He sat down on the plastic chair next to his brother and tried to make himself comfortable.  
Cloud flicked through the magazine, not even looking at the pages.  
“He’ll be driving us insane in no time.” Roxas said, patting Cloud on the shoulder before staring at the door. Riku poked his head around the door frame.  
“He asked to see you.”  
He sounded somber, like Roxas was going to read his brother’s last rites or something.  
He jumped up, knocking the chair over. Cloud rolled his eyes and picked it up.  
“Just go.” He snapped as Roxas tried to help pick it up.  
He jogged to Sora’s room  
“Roxy” Sora chirped as soon as he put is head around the door.  
“Don’t call me that.’  
He sat up, grimaced, then lay down again.  
“Sorry ‘bout your car. My fault.”  
“At least you’re ok. Love you Sor.”  
it was something he hadn’t said for a long time. Sora smiled. Roxas hugged him until he squeaked with pain.  
“Since you love me so much. You can’t kill me.”  
“Why?”  
“Your car is at a garage. The police took it there.”  
“Which garage?”  
Sora smiled at him innocently. Sora never looked innocent if he could help it. It was then that Roxas worked out what he had done.  
The ever present urge to strangle his brother returned. He reached forward, arms outstretched ready.  
“Roxas” A voice snapped from behind him. Cloud.  
The eldest Strife crossed the room and pulled Roxas away from the bed.  
“He could have died.”  
“So everyone keeps saying.” Roxas pouted “He’s only broken his leg”  
His repeated his remark from earlier was only met with a glare from Cloud. He suddenly felt sick of his of his own voice.  
“Roxas”   
Another tone joined the throng. People liked saying his name today. The voice sounded worried. He looked in the direction of the door and his heart jumped.   
The person who loved the sound of his own voice had chosen that moment to turn up. He was holding a box with a large red ribbon around it.  
“You brought me chocolate” came the voice from the bed “You’re awesome”  
“He’s delirious.” Roxas muttered “Morphine can do that to you.”  
“You’re ok?” Axel said in surprise.  
He reached over and pulled Roxas into a bear hug. Roxas struggled, trying to look mad, even though his mind and stomach were doing something completely different.   
“I thought it was you.” Axel squeezed tighter, then let go. “The police said the driver was in hospital.”  
“Sora was driving. You can leave now.”  
“Not a chance.”  
Axel grabbed his hand and pulled him into the corner by the door.  
“Look, I’m sorry for what I did. Can we be friends?”  
Roxas felt his blood boil. The mechanic was oblivious. He glared at the moron who had broken his heart.  
“I didn’t know you were this self involved” He spat  
The room was silent for a moment.  
“Actually, yes I did.”  
Axel rolled is eyes and let go of his hand. the warmth evaporated instantly.  
“Sometimes I just don’t get you.”  
“You don’t get me.” Roxas yelled “You spend all your time playing with engines. The fumes have gone to your head.”  
Axel tried to look insulted, but failed miserably.  
“Go back to work, seeing as you love it more than me.”  
Roxas turned and stalked out the door into the corridor. No-one followed, not that he blamed them.  
“Who said I did?”  
He turned to see Axel standing in the doorway.  
“You didn’t say anything when I left.”  
“I was in shock. Never had anyone walk out on me before.”  
“I don’t believe you.”  
“Don’t then.” he sighed. “For what it’s worth, you got me worried.”  
He smiled sadly as he turned and walked away, dropping the chocolate box in front of Roxas as he passed.  
Roxas stared at the empty corridor before going back to Sora’s room.


	12. A heart is just a heart

Roxas parked his brand new and extremely shiny pick up truck in a parking space outside Riku’s house. He didn’t want it, flatly refused in fact, but Cloud insisted in his usual way that he wasn’t going to drive that ‘deathtrap piece of shit’.   
The mini was sent to the scrap heap days later. Taking pity on him, the elder Strife had done the deed himself, so he wouldn’t have to go back to the Lionheart Garage.  
The truck was bright red and stood out a mile. He did like being higher on the road, but he wasn’t about to tell Cloud that.  
He practically fell out out the vehicle, missing the steps. Getting in, driving stick, no problem. Getting out was another issue entirely.  
It was in this prone position that he noticed someone sitting on the front step drinking beer. It was unfortunate that the hair of that said person matched his truck. He stepped closer and could smell cigarette smoke.  
His heart, the traitor, did that funny jumping thing that it did every time Axel was in close proximity.  
“I’m here to see Sora.”  
He tilted his beer bottle towards the door.  
“Be my guest” Axel said dismissively “He’s inside.”  
He shuffled aside and Roxas passed him, not looking back.  
Three months ago the place was know as Axel’s. As in, I’m going to Axel’s and I won’t be back for a few days. The rage had now been replaced by a hollow feeling at having to return to a place full of memories.  
Roxas spotted Sora in the hallway leaning on crutches as soon as he stepped through the door.  
“Rox”   
Sora’s voice as always was way too loud. His brother grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along at the speed one would go if they were limping on crutches.  
Roxas was shoved into the living room.  
The noise of people surged around him, joining the music. He scanned the room. Demyx was dancing in the centre, beckoning for Zexion to join him, the lights shining on the ghosted flames up the side of his skinny leg jeans. Roxas smiled.  
“Surprise.” whispered a female voice in his ear. “Happy birthday.”   
The voice grabbed his attention. He turned to see Kairi, who kissed him on the cheek then grinned at him.  
“I thought you couldn’t make it.” he said.  
“I got a note and some tickets in the post, but I have no idea where they came from. Sweet huh?”  
“Hey Rox.”   
Yuffie passed him a cup of punch, grinning madly. Cloud wandered over and kissed her on the cheek.   
Roxas’ mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out.  
“Yuff thought that telling you this way would be more fun. We’ve been waiting for months.”  
“What have you done with Cloud?” He asked in shock. “When did this happen?  
“I moved to Leon’s while my place was being fumigated. Cloud was dropping off some bike parts and we got to know each other.”  
Roxas felt his face change in realisation. “It was you Cloud went to see, not Leon?”  
Cloud frowned.  
“You thought I was seeing Leon? Are you mental?”  
“He’s back with his ex-wife anyway” Said Yuffie dismissively. “But that would be something I’d like to see.” she giggled dirtily.  
“Not going to happen”  
Cloud smiled. Again Roxas wondered what had happened to his brother.  
Eventually, he shrugged and turned to Sora  
“Thanks for getting Kairi here”  
“Wasn’t me.” His face completely clueless.”Didn’t know a thing about it.”  
“It was me and Axel.”   
At some point during the conversation, Riku had joined them and had given Sora a beer.  
“Shit” Roxas stuttered and started to look for the unmistakeable flash of red hair. He wasn’t there. “I have to find him.”  
He rushed out of the party, violently opened the door of his truck and started it up.  
“He did this for me?”  
“For both of you”  
He looked over and saw Riku in the passenger seat.   
“Sora would have come, but it’s his party too.”  
“I know.” He said reversing out onto the road.  
They travelled in silence for several blocks, slowing at anything red.  
“Where would he go?”  
“Where do you think he would go?”  
The question was rhetorical, he hadn’t expected an answer. Then it came to him  
“The park”  
He screeched into a side road, u-turned and headed towards the park.  
Axel was there, on a swing, not moving. Roxas pulled over, leaving Riku in the truck.  
He stood over the redhead for a second, shadow merging with his and wishing like the first time they met, that his heart wasn’t beating so fast.  
“Thanks for getting Kairi to the party”  
Axel didn’t even look up.  
“Happy birthday” He muttered.  
Roxas crouched down and lifted the redheads face with his finger.  
“I mean it, you know. Why are you out here by yourself?”  
“This was where I first knew I was in love with you.”  
The words came our of nowhere and the memory of that night came flooding back. Roxas felt his heart clench. It was the first time he’d ever had those words directed at him and the first time he realised that he felt the same.  
Axel reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He passed it to Roxas.  
“Here”  
“I can’t take this.” He tried to give it back.  
“I want you to have it. ” Axel said sadly. “It’s your present from me. I’d like us to at least be friends.”  
Roxas opened the box slowly to reveal a silver key. He must have looked confused because the redhead smiled.  
“To my new place. No resident Sephiroth or Cloud” His voice was melancholy. “Surprise.”  
“Show me” Roxas grabbed his hand and pulled him up.   
Screw the consequences, he would deal with them in the morning. He shoved Axel towards the truck. They got in, leaving Riku pushed up against the window.  
Axel put the truck into first and crunched through the gears like he knew the blonde didn’t want the truck in the first place.  
They didn’t look at each other for the whole journey. Eventually he pulled into one of the nice areas of town and screeched to a halt outside a modern looking semi. He got out and walk to the left door. He put his hand out. Roxas frowned.  
“Key.”  
He snatched it out of Roxas’s open hand and opened the door. The place was bare, but was double the size of Riku’s.  
“You could have told me” said Roxas softly “I could have met someone else and this whole thing would have been pointless.”  
“And ruin the surprise?” he said, sounding a lot like Sora “Anyway, you shouldn’t be with anyone but me.”   
It was a full 10 seconds before he leant to kiss the blonde. Nine and a half seconds too long.

 

1 year later

Roxas lay in bed leafing through a photo album, listening for the fire alarm and the usual cursing that always accompanied Axel cooking breakfast.  
Flicking through the pages he came across one of Cloud and Yuffie after their first race together. Covered with mud, leaning on their bikes with helmets in hand, grinning like idiots.  
Yuffie had changed him into someone that Axel was happy to point out that was not longer a psycho. He’d even started to embrace the art of sarcasm much to Zack’s delight.  
A photo of Zexion reading with glasses perched on the end of his nose, so engrossed that he didn’t notice that he was being photographed. Another one of him, this time with Demyx on a roundabout with them both smiling at something.  
On another page, Riku and Sora on a roller coaster then a reaction shot of Sora throwing up into a bin.   
He closed the album as Axel walked into the room with a mug of coffee. On the far wall, the photo booth photos, enlarged and framed stared back at him. An anniversary present from Axel. He smiled and took the offered drink.  
“Love you baby” He said  
“What’s that for?”  
“No reason.” Roxas smiled as he sipped the coffee.


End file.
